Only a Matter of Time

Some are saying it’s only a matter of time before the economy improves. Others are saying it is only a matter of time before the government goes bankrupt. Some are saying it’s only a matter of time before Iran has the nuclear capability to blow up Israel. Israel is saying it’s only a matter of time before it blows up Iran’s nuclear facilities. Some are saying it’s only a matter of time before we can safely leave Afghanistan in the hands of their own security forces. The Taliban are saying it’s only a matter of time before we get tired and go home and they retake the country.

In this world, time is all anyone has—they live in it, worry about it, are limited by it.  No one can change the past or control the future. It is indeed a worrisome condition—this thing called time.  But the one who is "born from above" lives outside of time (John 3:3).

Jesus left eternity and came to live in time. But He was never controlled by it.  He said it was not only pointless, but sinful, to worry about time—past, present or future. “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” (John 11:9) “Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Mat. 6:34) means there is a daily quota of trouble. And His assurance is that our Father will never allow us to exceed our quota.  But if we carry yesterday or tomorrow with us into TODAY we will certainly exceed it. We would be wise to follow Jesus’ pattern of living each day as a unit in and of itself, living in the ever-present, eternal reality of TODAY (Hebrews 3:7). To us, it is not a matter of time, but a matter of eternity.